Accor reports ‘good traction’ on corporate travel

The Accor hotel group’s first-quarter systemwide revenue per available room
increased nearly 8 per cent year over year, officials said, helped by
“good traction” on business travel demand.

“We’re seeing good
traction on business bookings,” Accor CFO Martine Gerow said during a
Thursday conference call. “Business bookings are actually up in the low
teens, in the quarter on a bookings value.”

Gerow also said corporate meetings volume picked up during the quarter, perhaps more so than large meetings.

“We’re
also seeing an increase in group meetings,” she said. “It’s more
smaller groups than larger groups. It’s obviously very different by
region because it depends on what kind of events you have, but overall
we’re seeing a nice pick-up in small meetings.”

Accor’s systemwide
first-quarter RevPAR increased 7.6 per cent year over year to €66, while
occupancy increased 1.2 percentage points to 60.9 per cent and average
daily rate increased 5.5 per cent to €109. Without delving into
specifics, Gerow said the company had noticed “softening” in the United
States.

Its premium, midscale and economy division posted an 8 per cent increase in RevPAR – 5 per cent in Europe and North Africa – while Accor’s luxury and lifestyle division recorded 7 per cent RevPAR growth.

Accor maintained its forecast of a compound annualised RevPAR increase of 3 to 4 per cent through 2027.

The group opened 53 hotels in the first quarter of 2024 – equating to more than 8,000 rooms – taking its total network to 5,613 hotels with a combined 825,313 rooms.